Land Use Change, Forest Fragmentationand Riparian Ecosystems

Investigator:

Description:

My project aims to address questions about riparian forest fragmentation in a region of Panama formerly home to large tracts of dry tropical (deciduous) forest. This region has been largely converted to cattle pasture, so the health and ecosystem functions of remnant forests is difficult to ascertain in the narrow riparian areas where they still occur. This project has used Landsat imagery to perform preliminary land cover classifications, and will continue to refine these classifications as the data is ground-truthed over the summer of 2013. Access to these classifications and the software with which to refine them, as well as develop better classifications based on imagery with higher spatial resolution and less cloud-cover interference, is necessary as I write up my research for publication over the course of the 2013-2014 academic year.